Shortly after moving to Georgia, now well over a year ago, I walked up the paved trail to visit Anna Ruby Falls, which is one of the more spectacular waterfalls in the state. At the time, I noticed, but didn't have enough time to explore another trail near the falls, the Smith Creek Trail. Since I've started leading hikes for one of the local meetups, this seemed like a great destination for our next adventure.
Arriving at Unicoi State Park a few minutes before the scheduled start time, I'm greeted by some of the folks joining me today and then take a quick walk down to the campground restroom. When I return, more of our participants have arrived. At the designated time, I begin a round of introductions and notice a couple of late-comers pulling in and doing something in their cars. As we wrap our round robin, I yell back to the remaining folks that we're taking off and they can catch up with us. It's never my intention to be a jerk, but I do try to keep the group on time and I feel the introductions allow enough of a grace period.
While there is a chance for rain later today, it's fantastic hiking weather right now and we hit the trails hard. It's my intention to hold us to an average 2.5 mph pace, but after a couple of miles, I find that we've been moving significantly faster than that and while most of the group is able to keep up, I decide to slow us down a bit. The trail is very nice, with a few mile elevation gains nothing crazy. There are also a couple of muddy sections, but again, nothing the group can't handle.
Arriving at a small creek crossing, a couple of the hikers ask if the small trickle of a waterfall above the crossing is Anna Ruby Falls. Apparently, they have never been here before. I explain that Anna Ruby is much more grandiose than what they are seeing now. About this time, the last of the late-comers finally catches up with us. He introduces himself and I thank him for joining us.
A short distance later, we begin to hear the rumble of water and I mention that the first timers are in for a treat. As we make the final approach to the twin waterfalls formed by Curtis Creek and York Creek, I can see the look of awe in their faces. The waterfalls plummet 153' and 50' respectively before merging at the base to form Smith Creek, which we have just hiked the length of from Unicoi Lake. It's a truly impressive site and I tell the group that we'll take a 15-minute break here to enjoy the waterfall and get a snack.
As we begin to wrap up, everyone congregates near the end of Smith Creek Trail and after a ready-check, we begin making our return trip. Again, we get a very solid pace going and return to the trailhead without incident. Our total distance was almost exactly 10 miles with nearly 1,800' feet of elevation gain and loss, which we managed to do in just over four hours. I love it when a plan comes together. We say our goodbyes and everyone heads home. It was a relatively easy hike, but a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment